A Moment of Gratitude
by Kumiko Yoshikuni
Summary: Following the events of "Air" episodes, Eli and Matt have a bonding moment. Frienship or pre-slash; whichever you prefer.


**Author's Note: **Yes...so I figured I would try my hand in the SGU fandom, since I am a fan of StarGate (all of 'em), but never really attempted any stories. Just to let you know, Eli Wallace is my obsession, so most of my fics will tend to revolve around him. (And maybe Matthew Scott in the near future, but if I do, it would be mainly slash...) However, we are not _there, _yet, so this story is kind of more a friendship/bonding fic, than anything else. (But if you want, you can see it as pre-slash...teehee!)

Any thoughts or suggestions for future fics are greatly appreciated! ;)

**Disclaimer: SGU does NOT belong to me. Though I wish Eli did...*sob***

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Scanning over the console, Eli watched for any signs of fluxuations from the ship's systems. Years of online gaming had fine tuned his skills at details and multi-tasking; while his left hand pushed buttons to bring up power relays of the ship, his right hand was putting in data in order to bring up the projection screen of the star map. Of course, it was _still _quite difficult to read all of the Lantean coding, but if there one thing Eli could positively say about himself, it was that he _thrived _when given challenges.

After a moment, the holographic map came up in the small area between the console, and Eli let his hands fall to his sides as he went to stand closer to it. His face was still stinging slightly from the sunburn he'd recieved a little over two days ago from the planet he'd not so-affectionately entitled _The Sand Planet of Doom, _and he had to consciously remind himself not to scratch at the itch. He also dutifully ignored how red his face must've been; if the looks he'd recieved from passersby were anything to go by, it couldn't be good.

The holographic stars twinkled on the holoscreen, and Eli watched the swirling masses of the galaxies as they formed.

_Oh my God, this is unbelieveable! Even having been on this ship and seeing what I have seen...it's still so unreal, _Eli thought, his chocolate brown eyes glued to the holoscreen. He was so focused on the projection, he did not hear the footsteps of someone entering the room. It wasn't until a warm hand settled on his right shoulder, that he jumped, startled. Turning to face the silent intruder, Eli brought up a hand to place over his chest, as if trying to slow down his rapidly beating heart.

"Jeez, dude! You _trying _to give me a heart attack?" Eli said. The culprit, Matthew, just grinned. Eli glanced at the young Lt.'s attire and saw that he was currently in regulations pants and a simple black tee-shirt. Looking back at Matt's face, Eli was pleased to see that _his _face was cherry red, too, from the _Sand Planet of Doom. _He also noticed that Matt, for once, seemed just a tad bit more relaxed than usual. Eli was so used to seeing him in command mode, or attending to other people, that to see him there all laid-back, just...normal, was kinda different.

Eli decided that it was different in a _good _way.

"Sorry 'bout that," Matt chuckled, pulling his hand off Eli's shoulder. The brunet man furrowed his eyebrows when the heat from Matt's hand dissipated, leaving his shoulder slightly chilled. "Not my fault you don't pay attention to your surroundings." Matt finished with a wink.

Eli shrugged. "I'm practicing though; soon, my spidey senses will kick in and you'll be sorry! I'll know when anyone is near me then." He retored, making martial art motions with his hands as if he were karate chopping someone, and he was immensely satisfied when Matt just let out a slight laugh at his antics. Eli frowned, pretending to be hurt.

"You makin' _fun_ of me, boy?" he said with a feigned, exaggerated Southern accent. Which was so off the mark, it sounded more like a corny British one. Matt suddenly drew up straight, and gave a mock salute. Eli had to fight back a smile, secretly pleased that the Lieutenant was readily joining along with him. Usually people would scoff or roll their eyes at him.

"Sir, no sir!" Matt said. There was a moment of silence that followed, and all it took was for Eli to see the amusement lighting up in Matt's gray eyes, to finally lose it. Both young men burst out into laughter, which rang out in the large room, seeming to bounce off the walls. And it was what they both desperately needed, as there was so little they could do to actually _vent. _They could only take so much under the conditons which they found themselves, before losing themselves to the pressure.

They laughed until their sides cramped, and then it was a minute after they finally calmed down, that they retreated back to the calm, reserved air that they were used to.

"Good, Lieutenant. See that you don't." Eli gave Matt the Stink Eye, (something he'd been on the receving end from his mother as a child far too often), before chuckling again and turning back to face the holoscreen. "What's up? You need me to hack into something for you?" he said jokingly. "Or do you need a code to something?"

When he received no answer, he turned back to Matt, and looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" Eli inquired. In response, Matt just leaned back against the console, sticking his legs out and crossing his feet at the ankles. He regarded Eli calmly, whatever thoughts running through his head remaining a mystery.

"I didn't thank you, did I?" he questioned abruptly.

Eli blinked, confused. He had no idea what in their conversation led to Matt suddenly asking him that question.

"Uh...for what?" Eli asked, at a loss for whatever the heck Matt was talking about.

"For back there...on the planet. For waiting for us when you didn't have to. And for sticking your arm through the portal to keep it open. That was really brave of you."

Eli was thanking all the that was holy that his face was _already _beet red, because he knew if it hadn't, it surely would have been now. He wasn't used to praise too often, and every time someone _did _give it to him, he found himself feeling very awkward. He usually remedied that by making jokes and being a goofball. It was something he prided himself on and excelled at.

"Oh...no prob," Eli said with a light wave of his hand. "Anytime. Besides; it wasn't like I had anything else to do." He gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, missing the quirk of Matt's lip as the lieutenant watched Eli try to play cool. "I figured I might as well stay and help you, you know?"

"Of course," Matt replied with mock seriousness. Eli turned to look at Matt, suddenly serious.

"And, I would have tried to help anyway I could," he added, his voice lowering. "Because I'd like to think you are my friend." He ended that statement with a half shrug, as if not entirely sure if what he said were true or not. In any case, Matt only hung out with him because Col. Young had ordered him too; Matt was also responsible for the well being of Chloe, too.

Matt straighted to his feet, and then came over to Eli. Without warning, he flung his arm out over Eli's shoulder, and pulled the young savant to his side.

"Don't worry, buddy. After what you did for us; you're _definitely _cool with me." Matt flashed him another megawatt grin, before giving Eli's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and then let go.

Eli graced him with another smile, and then the light mood was interrupted by the loud gurgle of Eli's stomach. He once again thanked his lucky stars that his face was already red.

Matt shook his head, amused.

"Wanna go find some semi-edible rations to eat?" He offered, and Eli wrinkled his nose at the meager choices the crew had for food.

"Sure, I guess." He answered with a dramatized put upon sigh. Matt followed Eli out of the room, his laughter once again ringing in the room.

* * *

**Author's Note2: **This fic was mainly a friendship fic (as stated above), but I am already in the mindset of some future Eli/Matt slash fics. I'll probably post up more friend fics up first, to get the ball rolling, and then I'll be starting a multi-chaptered story which starts off as Eli/Matt frienship, but then turns into romance. Just letting you guys know now.

For those who don't like slash, I will still be posting friendship fics you can read, as well as other character pairing that aren't slash. For those of you who _do _like slash...just wait. You won't be dissapointed. (BTW, did you hear? The writers of SGU has decided to write in two prominate gay characters into the Star Gate franchise! FINALLY; it's about TIME the LGBT community got some recognition!!! And they are going to be of the main cast; no random crew member who ends up dying by the end of the episode!) XD

Yay for social improvements!!


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